11 Productivity Apps for Accounting and Finance Professionals

An overflowing inbox, a mile-long to-do list, and the feeling of not quite enough time to get it all done. As a busy accounting and finance professional, it’s a predicament you undoubtedly find yourself in often.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic spell to add a few extra hours to your workday. But, with the right productivity apps at your fingertips, technology can work wonders in increasing your efficiency in the least amount of time.

When choosing an app, remember to be selective and utilize only the ones that truly help solve a problem for you.

After all, there’s no use loading up on a bunch of productivity apps that overwhelm you and only slow you down. Pick the ones that really help you save some time, and you’re sure to power through your to-do list with less stress and more finesse.

11 productivity apps for the busy professional

Adobe Sign

As an accountant, you have to sign off on tons of documents. When you’re working remotely or away on business, it can be challenging to get your signature on an important piece of paper.  Adobe Sign (formerly Adobe EchoSign) is a great app that makes it faster and easier than ever to securely sign and manage documents across devices.  There is no scanning, email chains or attachments necessary, speeding up the entire process. And with cloud-signing standards, error-proof workflows and global compliance, Adobe Sign is one of the world’s top e-sign solution.

Wi-Fi Finder

Travelling or working remotely? A Wi-Fi Finder app will help you find the nearest and cheapest Wi-Fi network! iOS Android

Simpler Contacts

If you’ve ever tried to sort through the messy stack of business cards and post-it notes on your desk or searched for the email of that person you met at a networking event, you’ve likely longed for an easier, more streamlined way to organize your contacts.

This is where Simpler Contacts comes in. It cuts out all of the social media integrations that often make contact apps clunky, and instead focuses on being extremely clean and user-friendly. It makes it easy to find and merge duplicate contacts and even sort your contacts into groups. And, the app’s smart search filters make finding exactly who you’re looking for a breeze—leaving you more time to tackle that to-do list of yours.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a home for all your photos, documentss, videos, and files. Anything you add to your Dropbox account will automatically show up on all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website — so you can access your stuff from anywhere. Relax knowing that your most valuable files are safe in Dropbox and will never be lost, even if your computer has a meltdown.  Best of all? Dropbox Basic is free!

XE Currency

Need to calculate currencies on-the-go? With the XE Currency App, you can access live exchange rates, view historical charts, and calculate prices on your smartphone or tablet. With over 40 million downloads worldwide, this FREE app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, and Firefox OS devices.

Boomerang

It’s all too easy to feel like your email inbox has you on a short leash. Just the simple act of remembering when you need to follow up on a project or client message is enough to keep you glued to your inbox at all hours of the day.

With a productivity app such as Boomerang, you can schedule emails to send at a specific time. Just draft your message, select the date and time, and leave the rest to the app. The ability to work ahead without sending emails at 2AM? Sign us up!

PrintCentral

iOS user? For a minimal charge PrintCentral lets you print direct to most Wi-Fi/Wireless printers without additional software. Print to all printers and any document type via your Mac/PC. Print remotely over 3G/4G and in corporate/other networks where Wi-Fi is not available. View, store & print email, large documents and PDFs, files, attachments, photos, contacts and web pages on your iPad.

Android user? Google has designed a cloud printing app that works with your printer connected either to your wireless network or to your computer via USB.  Learn more here.

Grammarly

Speaking of emails, you undoubtedly want them to portray you as the polished professional that you are. But, if you consider yourself to be more of a numbers person than a wordsmith, you might struggle with catching any of those glaring errors in your messages.

Grammarly will take care of that for you. It’s the cream of the crop in finding and fixing spelling and grammar errors, so you can make sure your message is polished to perfection before ever hitting “send”. That way, you can spend less time re-reading your email drafts, and more time on your actual work.

LastPass

You care about your online security, particularly when sensitive financial information is involved. But, very few of us have the brainpower (or desire!) to remember all sorts of unique passwords that look like X!78K*9U#. And, trying to find where you jotted down that pesky password in the first place means you’re just wasting precious time.

Using LastPass, you only need to remember one master password. Enter that in, and you’ll gain access to any of your accounts with just the click of a button. It’s increased online security, without all of the extra headaches.

Zapier

You know those mundane and mindless tasks you need to complete day in and day out? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have somebody (ahem…or something) else take care of those routine to-dos?

You can! Zapier links together your favorite, commonly used apps and create workflows to perform specific actions. From automatically saving email attachments to Dropbox to using an email to create a new to-do in your project management system, Zapier will automate those tedious tasks that tend to clog up your workload.

Evernote

You left your important notes for a client meeting sitting on your desk, and now there’s no time to turn around and get them. You’re already breaking into a sweat thinking of how you’ll fumble your way through this sit-down.

Using Evernote, you never have to feel that sense of panic again. Put your notes—and even important snapshots—in the app, and they’ll be instantly available to you across all of your devices.

Pocket

We all know what it’s like to fall into the Internet black hole. You find one article you want to read, and a half hour later you realize you haven’t actually gotten anything done—you’ve just been clicking around.

Save yourself from wasting your own time with a productivity app like Pocket. Whether it’s an industry-related article you want to dig into later or a helpful video tutorial you want to remember to watch, you can save everything to Pocket and have it in an easily accessible place to reference any time.